The Sand Trap by Dave Marshall Page B

girls from
back East, Massachusetts and North Carolina."
    Both the practice day and the competition
were set up so the women had the morning on the course and the men
the afternoon. Sixty women teed off on this practice day in a
shotgun start at 8 am and they had five hours to complete the
eighteen holes before the men had their shotgun start at 1:30.
Another sixty men and woman had gone the day before so that all 240
golfers had a chance at a practice session before the
competition.
    “I’ll be going with you to help you with
course management issues.”
    Melanie said nothing in response as she took
off at a crisp, but to Rebecca it seemed a somehow awkward pace
towards the fourth hole. Rebecca picked up her bag and Coach
followed as Rebecca and Coach gave each other a questioning look
and just shrugged. Melanie was known to behave oddly on occasion.
It soon became clear to both Coach and Rebecca that this was not
just any old odd occasion. She was abruptly polite with the other
players, simply giving single or two word responses to anything.
For the whole morning no one heard more than “good shot”, “nice
putt” or “thanks” when someone said something nice to her. There
was no conversation. There was no bantering or laughter and when
Rebecca commented that the rough was long this morning, or the
greens cut shorter than normal, she just nodded her head and
carried on.
    But she did two things, other than her
strange gait that struck Rebecca as very odd at the time.
    Firstly, after every tee shot she walked
back to the where the men would tee off, twenty to forty yards
further back from the women’s tee and stood and looked for a
moment. Secondly, and only Rebecca really noticed this one, each
shot to the green seemed to end up on the hardest part of the
green. If there was a spot on the green where the putt required a
shot over two swales and three dips, that’s where Melanie’s ball
landed. At least twice Melanie hit her ball into pit bunkers that
left impossible shots to the green.
    Her game was so unusual that at the end of
the round Rebecca heard one of the other golfers say to her own
coach ”She’s not such a hot golfer.” But Rebecca knew what the
golfer did not. Melanie had hit those shots on purpose and while
she had not totally figured it out, she soon learned there was
purpose in Melanie’s action.
    At the end of the practice round the girls
and coaches shook hands and Coach, Melanie and Rebecca walked to
the clubhouse where lunch was waiting for the women as the men
finished lunch and were heading out to the course. Rebecca was
still puzzling over Melanie’s behaviour on the course when they met
Chad, Burt and the caddies Henry and Frank coming out the clubhouse
door.
    “Well hello ladies, “Chad warmly hailed.
“Did you birdies leave any birdies out there for us?”
    There was only a split second delay before
Melanie walked over to Chad and to his surprise and even greater to
Rebecca’s, she laughed, put her arms around his neck and gave him a
little peck. “I’ll always leave some goodies for you, Chad.” And
with a sideways walk and a coquettish smile as she glanced back,
Melanie went into the clubhouse to change for lunch.
    Rebecca shuffled after her, still carrying
her clubs and caught up to her in the hallway and grabbed her
arm.
    “Ok girl. What the fuck was that? First the
oddest eighteen holes I have ever seen you play and then that with
Chad? Is there something I don’t know?”
    Melanie stopped and paused for a moment
before she turned around. When she was facing Rebecca, she thought
for a moment that Melanie had tears in her eyes. But it was only
for a second as Melanie looked at her in the eye as straight and as
resolute as she had ever done before.
    “I want to play on the men’s side in the
tournament.”
    “What did you say?”
    Melanie repeated herself very quietly and
very firmly. “I want to play on the men’s side.”
    “You can't. In case you haven’t